It's a Boy Thing...

So Wed night we had a very scary trip to the ER.  After getting home from dinner, we opened the doors & some windows to the house since it was cooling down a bit.  Well a gush of wind blew as Max was trying to do one of his favorite things- "SHUT DOOR" (he often says this with quite the authority in his voice).  Well his poor little thumb got hurt in this event.  There was blood everywhere & Barrett & I seriously thought the tip of his thumb was about to fall off.  After an anxiety-filled ride in the car we arrived at the hospital in New B.  

After what seemed like forever they gave Max some morphine to help with his pain & that made him feel better.  He got into a pretty good mood even though all of this craziness was going on & it was also getting well past his bedtime.  We entertained him by allowing him to throw away a whole box of kleenex one kleenex at a time (he loves) to throw away trash.  They also had to give him a couple of shots into his thumb to numb it so the doctor could examine it.  

After the xray & an exam that had Max screaming in ridiculous pain & fear the whole time the ER doctor gave us a few options.  The thumb had a tiny fracture on the tip of the bone & the doctor wasn't sure his nail would grow on his thumb.  He wasn't sure if a specialist would require surgery, but that he could basically just clean it & stitch it up.  Barrett decided it would be best to try to find a specialist- either an ortho doctor who specializes in pediatrics or hands.  Well the New B hospital wasn't overly helpful in finding us a referral (the only option they gave us was to drive to San Antonio & see a resident- um no thanks).  So Barrett called his hospital & talked to one of the ER docs there.  He gave us the name of a plastic surgeon in Austin who specializes in hands.  Barrett spoke to him & he greatly reassured us that he sees accidents like this all the time & that chances are it was going to heal fine.  So he told us to go home & get some sleep & go to his office first thing in the morning.  

Well not much sleep was to be had by any of us that night.  We left our house very early in order to make it to Austin by 8.  The plastic surgeon took a look at his thumb (Max did sooo much better during this exam).  The doctor told us that it would be best to let it heal on it's own & to just keep neosporin & a bandage on it while it heals.  He even said Max could go swimming in 3-5 days!  I had thought our whole summer would be ruined.  The doctor also said that the nail should be fine & would continue to grow.  So we just have to follow back up with him in a few weeks.  What fantastic news!  It was such a relief since we had been thinking there was a possibility of surgery based on what the ER doctor had told us. 

So the reason I titled this post "It's a Boy Thing" is because everyone we encountered throughout this experience- from nurses, to doctors, to the lady at the cafe who saw Max's bandaged hand continue to tell us that we just need to get used to it because boys get hurt all the time & that "it's a boy thing" to make trips to the ER.  I think the plastic surgeon was almost amused by how concerned we were about Max's thumb.  I can't conceive myself ever being used to trips to the ER, that much blood, hearing my child scream & writhe around in pain, or anything along those lines.  I hope that Max gets rid of his accident prone ways & that Dean is a little safer.  I just can't handle the stress of future trips to the ER.  I need to look in the mirror & see if any gray hairs sprung from this incident (because I did turn 28 on Thurs)!